Emergency Plan for Infectious Disease
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EMERGENCY PLAN FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE FOR MARIN COUNTY ___________________________ SCHOOL DISTRICT PRELIMINARY Model Annex to Marin Schools Emergency Management Plan August 2011 Mary Jane Burke Superintendent of Schools TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. I. OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 3 II. PURPOSE OF THE PLAN …........................................................ 5 A. Planning Assumptions .............................................................. 5 B. Legal Issues Relating to Schools ............................................. 7 C. Concept of Operations ............................................................... 8 III. MITIGATION AND PREVENTION ................................................. 11 A. How Illness Spreads ................................................................. 11 B. Prevention Strategies .............................................................. 12 1. The School Environment .................................................... 12 2. Universal Precautions ........................................................ 13 3. Immunizations .................................................................... 14 C. Animals/Pets at School ............................................................ 15 IV. PREPAREDNESS ........................................................................ 16 A. General Activities ..................................................................... 16 B. Personal Protective Equipment ................................................ 16 C. Training ................................................................................. 17 D. Emergency Contacts ............................................................... 17 V. RESPONSE ................................................................................... 19 A. Detection .................................................................................. 19 1. Common Indications of Infectious Disease in Children ....... 19 2. Symptomatic Treatment ..................................................... 21 B. Infection Control ....................................................................... 21 C. Exposure Response Strategies ............................................... 22 D. High Risk Populations ............................................................. 23 E. Exclusion Guidelines ............................................................... 23 1. Social Distancing ................................................................ 24 2. Quarantine .......................................................................... 24 3. Isolation .............................................................................. 25 F. Communications ...................................................................... 25 G. Reporting Requirements ......................................................... 25 VI. RECOVERY .................................................................................... 27 A. After Action Review .................................................................. 27 B. Document Archive ................................................................... 27 VII. APPENDICES ................................................................................ 28 A. Infectious Disease in a School Setting - Summary Chart ....... 28 B. Sample School Weekly Report of Communicable Diseases .... 29 C. California Reportable Communicable Diseases ..................... 30 D. Online Resources ................................................................... 31 E. Acronyms ............................................................................... 33 Model Emergency Annex for Infectious Disease 2 PRELIMINARY Marin County Schools Emergency Plan for Infectious Disease Marin Schools Model Emergency Management Plan The Marin Schools Emergency Management Plan consists of several components including the Model Plan, Appendices with Checklists, Forms, Sample Memos and Agreements, and Annexes. The Emergency Annex for Infectious Disease is an incident management strategy that serves to augment the Marin Schools Emergency Management Plan. In order to ensure efficient and effective emergency management, the Model Plan must be implemented in its entirety. I. OVERVIEW An infectious disease is an illness caused by the presence of disease-causing agents or germs, including viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites and other microbes. These diseases are called communicable diseases or transmissible diseases due to their potential of transmission from one person to another. Transmission may occur by direct contact with an infected person or animal, by ingesting contaminated food or water, or by contact with infected surroundings or contaminated air. Infectious (communicable) diseases that usually require a more specialized route of infection—for example, by insects such as mosquitoes or ticks (disease vectors) —are usually not regarded as contagious. Contagious diseases acquired by blood or needle transmission or sexual contact require prophylactic strategies but not measures such as social distancing or quarantine. Strict measures as addressed in annual Blood Borne Pathogen training are a prevention strategy in place in the school system. At-Risk Populations Students are a high risk population for infectious disease, and exposure to a variety of infectious diseases in a school population is inevitable. Infectious diseases are common in young children who have immature immune systems and are developmentally unable to understand and practice the concepts of good personal Model Emergency Annex for Infectious Disease 3 hygiene. However, older youth and teenagers exposed to different social situations are also prone to certain infections. In any school population, there are certain individuals who may have a higher risk of complications if exposed to specific diseases. Students and staff who are medically fragile or are immunosuppressed, pregnant, and/or have chronic disease, nutritional deficiencies or debilitating illness should be informed of the possible risks of acquiring an infection. The responsibility of the school is to inform those individuals to consult with their licensed health care provider. The licensed health care provider will assess the risk, provide appropriate treatment and/or make recommendations so that reasonable accommodations are put in place for the individual by the school. Model Emergency Annex for Infectious Disease 4 II. PURPOSE OF THE PLAN The purpose of this annex is to provide a comprehensive guide on how an infectious disease outbreak might affect school-aged children, how to respond, and how local agencies should plan ahead. During an infectious disease outbreak, the Marin County School District will utilize this Emergency Annex to achieve the following goals: Limit the number of illnesses and deaths Preserve continuity of essential school functions Minimize educational and social disruption Minimize economic and academic losses A designated lead agency, generally the Marin County Department of Public Health, will coordinate with other local response and support agencies teams to incorporate all-hazard response activities and plans of our community, state and federal partners. This plan does not address: Symptoms of specific infectious diseases, diagnosis, epidemiology, treatment, prognosis, and follow-up. For details on specific diseases, see the Marin School Nurses Organization Online Health Manual posted at: http://www.marinschools.org/Health/Title.htm. Nuisance diseases such as lice that do not pose a significant threat to the health of the community. Such diseases, however, may cause considerable anguish and disruption to schools. Therefore, close cooperation between school district administrators and local Public Health is essential for effective control of “nuisance” diseases in schools. Health plans, exams, medications, insurance, testing and assessment. For details on these topics, see the Marin School Nurses Organization Online Health Manual posted at: http://www.marinschools.org/Health/Title.htm. A. Planning Assumptions 1. The Marin County Public Health Department has the legal authority and primary responsibility for investigating the health and contagiousness of local students. These duties include the identification and control of human disease outbreaks and determining response capacity and capabilities. Model Emergency Annex for Infectious Disease 5 2. Response to all emergency events will be National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant. 3. Recognizing that children will more likely shed the greatest amount of virus (they are more contagious than adults), they are therefore likely to pose the greatest risk for transmission. 4. On average, about two secondary infections will occur as a result of transmission from someone who is ill. 5. In a severe outbreak, the school district will need to plan to function with a 40%- 60% work force absentee rate. 6. Whether or not schools will be closed or for how long is impossible to say in advance. However, it is well established that infectious disease outbreaks most often start in schools, so school closings may be likely. The duration of school closings can only be determined at the time of the event based on the characteristics of the outbreak, but it is unlikely that schools will be closed for less than 2 weeks (based on the incubation period of the disease and the length of time people are contagious) and could be as long as 12 weeks. 7. Other planning